CONSERVATIVE

never explains how local governance will rule more
effectively than Madrid. Instead, it seems to be a foregone
conclusion that Catalan society, unshackled from central
authority, will rid the region of the rampant corruption
that has plagued Spain (including Catalonia) for years.
This perception was validated by campaign slogans such
as Un país sin corrupción ni recortes ( “a country without
corruption or budget cuts”) and Un país on la justicia sigui
rápida i gratuita (“a country where justice comes fast and
free”).
In the campaign’s historical narrative, Spain is
nefarious at worst and irredeemably incompetent if not
corrupt at best. In actuality, Catalonia has had its fair
share of scandals, most notably the recent controversy
over the region’s dominant Pujol family. Yet unless and
until the region actually gains independence, sovereignty
backers will be able to continue making claims of Catalan
superiority without backing them up.
In comparison to truly unified Western European
states, which came about due to great efforts by singular
leaders such as Germany’s Bismarck or Italy’s Garibaldi,
Spain has a more tenuous national identity. Spain has
largely succeeded in the area of political cohesion. But
unlike France, which assiduously promoted the langue d’oïl
over competing alternatives, Spain never really achieved
linguistic unity due to geographic and other difficulties.
Perhaps because of this, Spain has long been subject to
coercive centralizing tendencies. During Franco’s reign,
Catalan was largely confined to home use—a policy which
bred great resentment among Catalans. The country’s
1978 constitution acknowledges the regional languages of
Catalan, Basque, and Galician, but specifies Castellano as
the favoured national tongue. In May, the Spanish courts
handed down a controversial ruling requiring Catalonian
public schools to teach at least a quarter of classes in
Castellano.
The question of national identity sits at the heart of
both the Catalan and Basque independence debates. Rather
than seeing itself as a type of federation with varied but
equal regions, Spain’s central government has long sought
to make Madrid the heart of the nation, similar to the role
A. BIERMANN
Independence flags and signs are ubiquitous in Catalonia,
like on this prominent building in Girona.
A. BIERMANN
Catalan sovereignty backers show their support for an
independent Catalonia and continued EU membership.
of Paris in France. In addition to promoting Castellano as
the national language, the federal government has tended
to concentrate infrastructure investments in and around
the capital. The existence of many well-funded national
highways leading to Madrid, in contrast with the lack of
sufficient roads connecting Spain’s Mediterranean coastal
cities, has not gone unnoticed by pro-secession forces.
Supporters on both sides seem to think that Spanish
and Catalan interests cannot be balanced—that one
identity or the other must triumph. Indeed, as the case
of Scotland has demonstrated, significant concessions of
autonomy may not be enough to quell nationalist impulses.
Nevertheless, many Catalonians favour independence not
out of blind nationalism, but from distrust of the central
government. Some independence backers likely would
be content under a devolved constitutional structure that
respected the identity of each region as distinct and equal,
and allowed regional governments such as the Generalitat
wider discretion to set policies. Like other European
states facing restive regionalism, Madrid must find a way,
in the spirit of subsidiarity, to reconcile national integrity
with regional variances.
Alexander Biermann recently graduated from Patrick Henry
College in Purcellville, Virginia, where he studied international
politics under Dr. Stephen Baskerville. He plans to intern with the
Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., this fall.
8
Summer 2015